Students forced to apologise to the Travelling community after holding ‘pikey night’ where they ‘urinated in gardens’

STUDENTS who let off fire extinguishers and fireworks while dressed in tracksuits as part of a “pikey” themed night have been forced to apologise.

The Reading University students hurled traffic cones, tried urinating in front gardens and even hauled a tatty sofa down a residential street.

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University of Reading students have apologised for the “pikey” night

They have since apologised for the blunder last October following a disciplinary inquiry by the university.

The Traveller Movement, which represents the Irish Traveller, Gypsy and Roma communities, said it was "absolutely right" to say sorry for an event with "an overtly racist theme".

Members of Reading University’s agricultural society have been banned from the student union since 2015 when they had another themed night that saw students "black up".

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Members of Reading University’s agricultural society are banned from the student union for "blacking up"

In the apology, the society said it understood "pikey" was offensive and its use "offended a vast majority of the University of Reading's community including the wider student community and even the local community".

"This leads us to apologise further to the local residents that were affected by the offensive behaviour carried out by the society as a whole."

A spokesman for the university said the students "had been taken through the disciplinary process" and that a letter of apology had been sent to the Traveller Movement.

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The students left a trail of wheelie bins, a couch and traffic cones behind them as they donned tracksuits and vest tops to parade through the town last October.

Shocking footage taken by a local showed the revellers trying to relieve themselves in unsuspecting neighbours’ gardens.

Local builder John Sharpe rushed out of his house when he heard the commotion, and managed to film some of the inappropriate behaviour.

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A concerned local caught the vandals on camera as they wreaked havoc

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The uni students were slammed for the carnage

He said at the time: "Almost immediately I had a student trying to get into my garden.

“I think that he thought that I was just a student rather than the owner of the house.

"At the time I thought that he was trying to p**s in the garden.

“The students were carrying all sorts of stuff including fire extinguishers which they were letting off and then throwing around."

The members of the society were previously slammed when they blacked up to dress as Rastafarians, guerrilla fighters, Hindus, Muslims, and other ethnic minorities for an “agrics on holiday” social event.

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